


Just Us Two

by afteriwake



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-07
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-13 13:02:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4523121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Molly has decided there’s no point in dating anymore, and her friends believe that’s a problem. Sherlock, however, is fairly certain he has the solution to said problem: arrange for a group film night to be a date between Molly and Lestrade. It sounds simple in theory, but it’s much more difficult in practice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ruqertgraves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruqertgraves/gifts).



> So I was asked to write some Lestrade/Molly fluff by **ruqertgraves** and after giving a few choices I had ideas for the one inspired by an **imagineyourotp** prompt ( _Imagine your OTP planning a movie night with a group of mutual friends. Unfortunately, throughout the day each friend has to decline until only those two are left. Person A is nonchalant but secretly excited to have time alone with them while Person B is plotting to put on a horror movie to start cuddling_ ) was the favorite. It ended up being longer than one part and _hopefully_ I will finish it quickly, but I wanted to at least get the beginning up ASAP. Hope you guys like it!

“So it’s settled, yeah?” Molly asked. “Everyone will come over to my place and we’ll watch some films?”

Mary nodded, and so did Lestrade. “Of course,” she said. “Were you thinking anything in particular?”

“Well, it’s almost Halloween, so I was thinking it might be fun watching some old slasher films,” she said with a smile. “You know, like ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ or ‘Friday the 13th.’”

“I didn’t know you enjoyed those sorts of films,” Lestrade said with a grin.

“My dad and I used to sneak off and watch them when we’d tell my mum we were going to see something else,” she said with a smile. “They were part of the reason I got into the field I got into, actually. I used to think it would be interesting examining all the different ways a person could be murdered. My dad and I used to come up with all sorts of elaborate schemes.”

“I suppose I could tolerate them for an evening,” Sherlock said after some thought. “As long as they aren’t too farfetched.”

“Then we’ll hold off on Freddy Krueger until after you’ve left from being too bored,” John said with a grin. Sherlock gave him a mild glare and shook his head. John chuckled at that and then turned back to Molly. “When do you want to do this?”

“Friday night, maybe?” she said, tilting her head. “I know the party Scotland Yard is hosting is on Saturday, and then you and Mary are taking Anna out Sunday for trick-or-treating.”

“Friday night works for me,” Greg said with a nod. “It isn’t like I’ve got much of a social life these days.”

“Melina absconded from your life?” Sherlock asked, pulling out his mobile.

“More like it _somehow_ came to light she had a husband,” Lestrade said shrewdly, looking in Sherlock’s direction.

“Oh, Greg,” Molly said, reaching over for his hand. “I’m sorry.”

He shrugged slightly. “It’s all right. It’s what I get for trying my hand at internet dating.” He gave Molly a grin. “You think you made a good choice but it turns out you had the wool pulled over your eyes.”

“Oh, don’t I know it,” Molly said with a sympathetic smile. “The last date I agreed to I thought I was meeting a doctor in his mid-thirties, but it was more like his mid-fifties. And he was so _randy_. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”

“It’s an absolute disaster these days, dating,” Lestrade said.

“On that I agree,” Molly said. “It’s why I’ve decided to accept my fate to be the old spinster with a house full of cats.” She glanced at her watch and then pulled her hand away. “It’s later than I thought and I’ve got an early day tomorrow. Dinner was lovely tonight, Mary, but then I didn’t expect anything less.”

“It helps that I have a husband who enjoys puttering around in the kitchen as much as I do,” she said, giving John a fond smile.

“Well, give Anna a hug and a kiss for me when she wakes up,” Molly said, standing up and going over to kiss Mary’s cheek. Mary did the same to her. Then she gave John a hug, followed by kissing Sherlock’s cheek quickly. Then she went back to Lestrade and gave him a hug. “I’ll take care of your victim first thing in the morning, Greg, I promise. Come by around ten and I should have the results for you, all right?”

He nodded. “All right,” he said. Molly stood up and gave them all one last wave before heading to the door. Lestrade watched her leave. “It’s a damn shame,” he said quietly.

“What is?” John asked.

“That Molly’s given up on being happy with someone. I’d thought she might have had a shot with Tom.” He turned back around. “’Course, none of us expected Sherlock to come waltzing back from the dead.”

“Molly and I settled that long ago,” Sherlock said without looking up from his phone. “We’re friends, nothing more. Just because the idiot thought there was more to our friendship than that is not _my_ fault.”

“Well, Tom was nice but I could tell they weren’t well suited for each other,” Mary said, picking up her wine. “He seemed a bit too…needy, I suppose. Molly needs someone who needs her but is also their own person. She needs someone caring and kind and supportive of her life. And she needs someone who doesn’t think what she does is strange or morbid, or strangely turned on by it.” Mary began to take a sip of her wine.

“She needs to date Lestrade,” Sherlock said.

The sound of Mary nearly choking filled the air, as did the audible gasps from Lestrade and John. “I’m sorry,” John said. “She should _what_?”

“Do I really need to repeat myself?” Sherlock said with a scowl as he looked up from his phone. “Lestrade you are, in fact, attracted to Molly, yes?”

“Well, I…yes,” he said. “She’s one of my favorite people, and she’s nice, and she’s interesting and lovely, and she’s very pretty.”

“So now that that’s settled, you’ll all see that if Molly needs someone who is kind, caring, supportive and has all the other admirable qualities she deserves in a mate, she could do worse than Lestrade,” Sherlock said. “At least he likes her, he’s got stable employment, he isn’t too far out of his sexual prime and he has the added bonus of being moderately good looking.”

Mary grinned at that and shook her head. “Isn’t it nice to know Sherlock thinks so highly of you, Greg?”

“I’ll try not to let it go to my head,” Lestrade said wryly. He leaned forward slightly. “So how do you suppose I go about asking her out on a date?”

“You don’t,” Sherlock said. “The perfect opportunity has already been established. The film night Friday night.”

“But Sherlock, we’ll all be there,” John pointed out.

“Perhaps not,” Sherlock said with a small grin on his face. “I’m sure we can all find plausible reasons to not be there Friday night, leaving it to be just Lestrade and Molly. I’m sure that being handed such an opportunity he won’t muck it up too badly.”

“You’re faith in me is overwhelming,” Lestrade said with a slight laugh. “But what if she invites other people?”

“Then we just inform them of what we’re planning and if needed we bribe or strong-arm them into agreeing to not attend,” Sherlock said with a slight shrug. “It’s a simple solution. It shouldn’t be _that_ hard to pull off, I don’t think.”

Lestrade looked around at all of the others at the table and then nodded. “All right then,” he said. “I’m game if you are.”

“I think this would be one of the few reasons why I would willingly lie to a friend,” Mary said with a smile.

“If it’ll get Molly a date with someone who will treat her like a queen, why not?” John said. “But you had best treat her like bloody royalty, Greg, understood?”

“Understood,” Lestrade said with a nod. 

Sherlock nodded and then leaned back in his seat. “Then tomorrow I will make my excuses and Friday afternoon, you and Mary will make yours, John. Then Friday evening you go to Molly’s flat, Lestrade, and enjoy your time alone with Molly.” Then he turned to Lestrade. “And _don’t_ muck it up too much.”

Greg nodded, picking up his wine. It was going to be _very_ interesting to see how this played out.


	2. Chapter 2

Molly had called him to tell him she was running late on doing his autopsy so to stop by at noon instead for his results. Lestrade didn’t mind and he offered to bring her by some lunch, or take her somewhere to go over the results, and she sounded quite grateful at the invitation. He arrived at eleven fifty-six and found her in her office, finishing up some paperwork. He knocked on the door and she looked up, giving him a smile. “Greg! Noon already?” she asked.

He nodded. “Well, not quite, but close. Long day?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I got in and there was a problem with the refrigeration unit, so I had to call maintenance, and it was a new person and he was acting strange, so I called Sherlock and asked him to come over. I promised him a severed hand for his trouble, but he said it wasn’t necessary. Turns out the man was trying to get access to my files.”

Lestrade frowned. “Why?”

“To tamper with them for a criminal case, I think. Not one of yours, one of DI Dimmock’s. I had to call him and he showed up. Tried to flirt with me. It was…awkward.” She gave Lestrade a weary smile. “And then Sherlock told me he won’t be at the movie night because his brother asked him to work on a case and it’s going to take all his time and attention.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“It’s all right. I invited Sally instead. And Dimmock might show up as well, maybe. I don’t know. He seems quite keen for me to go to the Halloween party with him but I’m just not interested.” She tilted her head. “I know that he’s…I mean, it’s an awkward position to…but…”

“Why not sic Sherlock on him?” Lestrade asked.

“Because he’s not totally a prat and I don’t want him traumatized?” Molly said uncertainly. “You know, never mind. I’ll take care of it myself.” She stood up and went to get her handbag. “Any chance we can get Japanese food? I don’t know why but I’ve had a craving for it lately.”

He nodded. “That’s fine.” She nodded, and he opened the door to her office and waited for her to leave. He paused before they left the morgue, though. “Aren’t you worried someone else is going to try and tamper with your files?”

She pointed to a man who he had barely glanced at who was painting the walls. “That’s Wallace. Mycroft sent him. He’s been painting that same spot all morning. He’ll make sure no one goes in.” She gave Wallace a wave and he nodded back to her, and then she turned to Lestrade. “Come on. I know a great place. We can walk there.”

They made their way to the lift and Molly pushed the button to call it. He leaned against the wall and looked at her. “Hopefully your day will get better now.”

“Well, spending it with someone I like helps,” she said with a smile. “But I did finish your autopsy. We can go over your results over lunch, if you’d like.”

He shook his head. “I think I’d like to talk about things other than work during our lunch,” he said. “You know, catch up on what’s going on with you. We don’t get to do that often enough.”

“We don’t, do we?” she said, tilting her head. “And it’s a shame, too. You’re quite special to me.”

“Really?” he said with a grin.

“Yes,” she said with a nod. “You’re one of my best friends, Greg.”

His grin faltered slightly. “I see.”

She appeared not to notice, and the lift doors opened at that point anyway. They got inside and chatted about other thing, and once they got out of the hospital they began the short walk to Ribon. He’d eaten there with her before and he had his favorite items on their menu. He got the bankara udon and two spicy tuna hand rolls while Molly got the Big Ben special. They settled at their table and Molly sipped at her tea. “I hope Friday goes better than today has,” he said.

“I think it will,” Lestrade said as he leaned back in his seat. “I mean, no one’s trying to ruin anything. But…if you don’t want Dimmock there I can try and talk to him for you, if you want.”

“Would you?” she asked, sounding hopeful

He nodded. “Yeah, for you I would,” he said, giving her a grin.

“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “Is there anything you particularly want to see Friday?”

“I always enjoyed ‘Halloween,’” he said. “I thought Jamie Lee Curtis was quite good in that movie when I was young.”

“Did you fancy her?” she asked.

“I may have,” he said evasively.

“I thought Johnny Depp was quite handsome in ‘Nightmare On Elm Street,’ if that helps,” she said with a laugh.

“Well, at least I’m not alone,” he said, grinning back at her. “But I think Friday’s going to turn out fine. You’ll see.”

“I hope so,” she said. She had some more of her tea. “So, why don’t we catch up?”

“All right,” he said with a nod. They spent her hour for lunch chatting about how their week had been, and anything else that seemed to come up, and he honestly felt more at ease with her than he had on the last ten dates he’d been on. He hated to admit it, but maybe Sherlock had been on to something. Maybe he _did_ just need to date Molly. It might make the both of them much happier.

When her lunch was over they made their way back to St. Bart’s and she went over the results of his autopsy. He listened carefully, fitting in what she told him with what he’d been aware of in his own investigations. He was starting to get a better idea of just who might have committed the murder now. When she was done he thanked her and made his way back to Scotland Yard, seeing Sally waiting there. She made a show of checking her watch. “A two hour lunch, Greg?” she asked, teasing.

“One hour lunch, plus time to get the autopsy results and time to get to and from there,” he said with a grin.

“It must have been some lunch,” she said with a smile.

“I guess it was,” he said, tilting his head slightly. He was quiet for a moment. “About the movie night at Molly’s on Friday.”

“What about it?” Sally asked.

“Could you not come?” he asked, reaching up to scratch the back of his head.

She looked confused for a moment before realization dawned on her. “Oh my God, you’re trying to make it a date!” she said, grinning widely.

“It was Sherlock’s idea,” he said, growing warm.

“Holmes had the idea of setting you two up?” Sally asked, looking surprised. “I’m surprised he could see you like her.”

“So it’s obvious?” he asked.

“Yeah, Greg, it’s obvious,” she said with a nod. She leaned back in her seat. “I’ll have to come up with a good excuse but yeah, I can avoid going. But then you’ve got Dimmock to worry about.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said with a sigh.

“I can probably take care of Dimmock, too,” Sally said thoughtfully. “I mean, he wants a date to the party, I don’t have one…I could always ask _him_.”

“I’d owe you,” Lestrade said gratefully.

“Yes, you certainly would,” she said. “And I’ll figure out a way you can pay me back, Greg, don’t worry about that.”

“I don’t know if I should be relieved or worried,” he said.

“Relieved,” she said. “Trust me on this.” She leaned forward again and then put her arms on her desk. “Now, about our case. What did Molly tell you, and what does that mean for the case?”

Greg grinned and then came into her office more. “Okay. This is what we now,” he said, before launching into the details. He could relax at least a little bit about this plan coming together, now that Sally was agreeing not to show up. Now it was just a matter of John and Mary holding up their end of it all, and then _maybe_ this would all work out…hopefully.


	3. Chapter 3

At three PM on Friday Lestrade was at his desk doing paperwork when his mobile began to ring. He picked it up and saw it was Molly and so he answered it. “Hi, Molly,” he said.

“Hi, Greg,” she said, her tone slightly glum. “About tonight. Don’t worry about coming over. No one else is going to be there. Sally said she wanted to catch up on her paperwork since she decided to go to the Halloween party after all and Mary just called and said they couldn’t find a babysitter who would let them stay out for a very long time.”

 _Damn,_ he thought to himself. This was not how he’d wanted this to play out. “I’m sorry. I’d really been looking forward to it,” he said. He paused for a moment. “I mean…I know it’s not the same, but maybe we could do it anyway, just you and I.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, sounding uncertain. “I mean, it’s not a party that way. Then it’s more like a…date.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” he asked quietly. She didn’t respond, and the silence stretched on for so long he began to worry. “Molly?” he finally asked.

“You don’t want to date me, do you?” she asked hesitantly. “I mean, you…do you actually fancy me, Greg?”

“I do,” he said. “I have for a very long while. But you were so fixated on Sherlock, and then when he was pretending to be dead you moved on to Tom, and…I don’t know. You never even considered me, and so I just gave up after a while. I just settled for being your friend because I thought that was all you wanted.”

“I hadn’t really thought about it,” she said. “I mean, I’d thought about it _sometimes_ , just kind of fleeting thoughts, but I’d thought that you weren’t interested.” She chuckled softly. “If we’d just talked about this, we could have avoided horrible dates with people we weren’t suited for. No online dating, no married people…we could have been much happier.”

“I suppose we could have,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “But we could give it a go now, if you want.”

“So you still want to come over tonight?” she asked.

“I would,” he said. “I’d still like to have a slasher film night with you.”

“Okay, then,” she said, brightening. “Then let’s meet up tonight at six. I think, depending on how late you can stay up, we can get a few movies in tonight. I even made sure to get ‘Halloween’ for you.”

“All right, then,” he said, a wide grin on his face that was evident in his voice. “Do you want me to bring anything?”

“I have popcorn and snacks at home already, so maybe some takeaway?” she suggested. “Do you know my favorite Chinese food well enough?”

“I do,” he said. “I can bring it with me. I’ll be there at six.”

“I’ll see you then,” she said before hanging up. He found himself with a wide grin on his face, one that popped up at random times over the rest of his shift, and then when he left he went to the Chinese restaurant near Scotland Yard that had the best food and got an order for all his favorites and all of hers. When it was done he loaded it all up in the car and then drove to Molly’s home, frowning as he saw the door open and Molly at it, talking to a recognizable figure. He got out and made his way up to the door. “Greg,” Molly said in a relieved tone.

Dimmock turned and looked at Greg, his eyes wide. “For a moment there I thought it would be Holmes behind me.”

“Why are you here, Dimmock?” Greg asked.

“Heard that the movie night was cancelled, since everyone was busy,” he said. “I thought it might mean Molly was free for a date.”

“And I’ve been trying to tell him I have plans,” she said. “You know, a _date_.”

Dimmock turned to look at her again, then back at Lestrade, who lifted up the bags of Chinese food. “You and _Lestrade_?!?” he asked as he turned back to face her.

“And what’s so wrong with that?” Molly asked defensively, crossing her arms and quirking up her eyebrow. “Greg is a very nice man. He’s warm and caring, and very considerate. He’s got a nice sense of humour, and he’s very sweet, and he is actually quite handsome, and I could do quite a bit worse.” She looked him up and down. “You’re not going to get a date with me. Ever. I’m simply not attracted to you, and the fact you’re so surprised I could be attracted to someone like Greg just compounds it. So please, just… _go_.”

Dimmock’s shoulders sagged, and after a few seconds he turned and moved around Lestrade and made his way away from Molly’s home. Greg watched him leave and then turned to Molly, grin on his face. “So I’m quite handsome, eh?” he asked.

“Don’t let it go to your head,” she said with a laugh, moving out of her doorway. “I thought we’d watch ‘Halloween’ first, then ‘Nightmare On Elm Street,’ and then if you feel like staying later, ‘Friday the 13th.’”

“That sounds like a solid plan,” he said with a nod as she shut the door behind him. She moved in front of him and led the way to her sitting room, and they went to her sofa. He set the food on the table in front of her sofa, sorting out who got what while she set up the DVD. After she was done she went to the kitchen to get them forks, and then she came back out. She handed him a fork and he took it. “Thank you.”

“Oh, you got me cashew chicken!” she said, smiling widely as she picked up a carton. “I don’t get that often.”

“That was the right choice, right?” he asked.

“That was the perfect choice,” she said, and after a moment she leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I think tonight is going to go very well.”

“I think it will too,” he said with a grin. He was going to see how close she would let him get, but he hoped that, perhaps, she’d sit nice and close and he could put an arm around her. He doubted she’d jump at the scary part but he never knew. But if tonight went well, then who knew where it could lead? He didn’t, but he couldn’t wait to find out.


End file.
